488 Race Seats Height Adjustment....

Ok ......So the story starts like this....

When I ordered my 488 I decided not to order the seat lifter for the race seats for the following reasons..
-Cost it would only be used once to set the seat and never used again
- Weight would add some unnecessary weight to the car
- and here's the killer one....dealer told me that the seats had 3 height settings and easy to adjust with a spanner etc.... to raise or lower the seat on 1 of 3 settings....


So got my car home , took a look at the seat and errrrrr no way of adjusting the seat height......Spoke to dealer and he said let me check.....Answer = eeeerrrrrrrrrrr no the race seats don't have that anymore !!!!!!!

So I wanted to raise up the seat a bit to be a better driving position so I got my mate to machine me up 4 bits of aerospace aluminium to the same size as the factory spacer ( cover that later) and 30mm high, then got them powder coated black.

Ordered some high tensile bolts 30mm longer than the factory ones, and half hour later with the help of an Allen key the driver seat is now raised 30mm and is perfect for me! See pictures below.

Now a number of threads have asked about getting more headroom, so if you want to achieve the opposite and drop the seat lower you can do this by drilling out 4x aluminium rivets (easy job) on the seat base that hold the factory seat spacers in place that are about 25mm. You would then need to get some bolts 25mm shorter than the stock ones and you could drop the seat another 25mm quite easily, it won't interfere with anything so easy to do.

So in a nutshell you probably won't need a seat lifter as you can raise and lower the seats easy enough with a few spacers.

Hope this helps...

Regards

Michael







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Stupid F dealer, he should bear your costs imo.

Perfect, easy solution imo ! Thanx for sharing here

How much is the oem lifter Michael ?

 

Seat lifter is approx. £1500 from memory

Regards

Michael

 

Good saving imo Michael !

 

What bolts and thread would I need to order to get the seat lower...(25mm shorter ones)?

Thanks

wayne

 

Hi Wayne

They are M8 high tensile steel cap screws, you can get them on eBay or a good hardware supplier make sure you get the good ones high tensile.

For length you may be able to use the existing bolts if there is,enough spare room in the floor, butnto,be on the safe side I would order some shorter ones.

Take out one bolt the front nearest the door is,easiest, measure the length and then measure the height of the factory spacer its approx 20mm and then order some bolts nearest to that length .

regards

Michael

 

IMO two things - seat lifter is a must have for resale value and second, if ur spending $300-400k on the car u might as well spec the lifter and pay the few extra bucks.


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$2,530 USD

 

Hi

Resale value is not a concern , kinda funny that half the posts on this section mention resale value....the car is meant for driving not selling...

And nearly 3k for something that will be used once is nuts! Plus it adds unnecessary weight!

The point I was making that think may have been missed is I was told the seats could be adjusted manually by the dealer like on the older version of the race seats and quite clearly that was now incorrect which was annoying more than anything else...

Still my solution works well is fully custom fully reversible and cost less than 30quid!

The post is meant to be helpful for those looking to raise or lower there race seat, not intended as another worthless debate about resale value on a brand new car for those that are so worried about cash! and what options you should or shouldn't chose

My car is a drivers car to be driven enjoyed and used!

6 weeks old and 2500 glorious miles! Not trying in anyway to be a 10 year old motor with less than a 1000 miles on the clock and 10 years of wasted fun!

Regards

Michael

 

I don't think seat lifter has any impact on resale.

And I'm not sure what the dealer means by the old race seats having standard height adjustment. The 488's carbon race seats are a pretty new design (I believe debuted on the 458), and I never noticed a standard height adjuster.

 

You are 100% right...mine went out the showroom and straight to the n#ring and then over to Spa francochamps...that got the running in period out of the way.

You only live once and personally whilst im still able I want to be driving this thing as it was meant to be...

Don't want to tell my grandkids I had this great car that I looked at and polished now and then..!

 

I think the point about resale (yes, some people actually do sell their cars at some point), is that when it's sitting in a showroom, or your driveway for that matter, and a potential buyer sits in the car, it would probably be a good thing that they be able to adjust the seat if necessary. I do agree that the cost for a single adjustment (assumes no one else of a different size will ever drive the car) is a bit much, but personally I'd rather have it than to tell someone it can be adjusted by manually adding or removing spacers, but that might be just me.

That said, sorry for the bad info from the dealer, and I applaud the solution that makes it work for you.


Jim

 

I have the race seats and the lifter and the lifter is a must. I do long trips in the car and am constantly doing "micro" adjustments with the lifter depending on what sort of driving I do.

Did u ask if they could fit it after delivery?

 

If you pay enough, F will mount allmost anything Jon

I would not dream of buying a lifter ever.

Once set = set imo. ... and I drive a lot kms also .... (almost 10K a season)

 

Interesting Mel. There was no option in the Speciale (at least I was not offered it) and it annoys me as the two settings are both not ideal for me. Hence why I like the lifter.

 

Just bringing this thread back to life momentarily.......

Without wanting to sound stupid..... but the spacer blocks that I have made, are they threaded or do the bolts just pass through them and then screw into the floor.

Does anyone have the overall dimensions of the blocks please ?

I'm about to take delivery of a non adjustment race seated 488 spider. I previously had a Scud, but sometimes felt the seat was a bit low. I never bothered to adjust it though in 10 years.
I will need to drive the 488, but the spacer fix seems simple to try.
I'm 6ft, and normal build.

 

Race seats on the F8 cannot be ordered without the seat lifter.

 

That's market dependent, it was not the case when I placed my order in France.
The only constraint I was told was about the "carbon driver zone" - I could have had the carbon paddles alone, the steering wheel with LEDs alone, but could not select carbon paddles + carbon steering wheel and had to go for carbon driver zone instead (which includes both but adds a few more bits).

 

In Canada, the riser is mandatory with the race seats.
Same in Canada about the driver zone CF as a package.

 

crazy amount of money for a manual lever.

 

"Only" 1500 EUR (ex-VAT) in Europe, so 1800 EUR with VAT in France.

 

Seat lifter is optional in the US not mandatory so definitely market dependent

 

That is not true in the UK, not sure about other markets

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Not in northern Europe it can't..
Have you tried telling your dealer that it is not mandatory in the rest of the world? Wonder what his bemused response would be.
Just spec at the factory. Saves you a ton of headaches with dealers who are not flexible, or don't know what they are doing.

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Seat lifter is definitely optional in France, it may not be ordered (and the cost saved).
I also have the impression that with the lifter, the lower position is higher than the position with no lifter (I'm not completely sure of this one though).